Lab victories

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2003:

“Hokkaido, Iwate, and Yamagata prefectures have voted to
end the transfer of homeless dogs and cats from local pounds to
research institutions by March 31, 2003,” World Association for
Voice of Animals president Stephanie A. Nakata told ANIMAL PEOPLE on
March 10. The three Japanese prefectures together sold 1,003 animals
to labs in 2000, but the total fell to 378 in 2001, Nakata said.
Fukushima, Tochigi, and Hiroshima quit selling animals to labs
earlier. “WAVA is now stepping up our campaign to end this archaic
practice in other parts of Japan such as Kagoshima, Okayama,
Aomorim and Gunma,” Nakata concluded.

The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center on January
29, 2003 suspended the use of live dogs in physiology labs for
first-year medical students. Spokesperson Sarah Ellis ascribed the
suspension to the need to cut $10.2 million from the medical school
budget. Offering the dog labs cost $17,000 per quarter. “The use of
live animals in renal labs was replaced with computer simulation in
2001,” Associated Press reported. The use of dogs in respiratory
labs was halted earlier in 2003. About 70% of U.S. medical schools
have already eliminated animal labs, according to the Physicians
Committee for Responsible Medicine.
The University of British Columbia medical school announced
on January 23 that as of September 2003 it will no longer use live
animals in teaching. Only two Canadian medical schools still hold
animal labs, says PCRM: Memorial University in Newfound-land and
the University of Western Ontario.